Being Racist to "Fight Racism"
Some nice "evil" in the full Ayn Randian sense of the word here
http://firecat.livejournal.com/598782.html?thread=4673022#t4673022
The heart of this evil is expressed in this comment:
White people coming to consciousness about white privilege means accepting the death of our self-image of white innocence.
This is especially hard for communities like the white SF community, in which white folks seek and create community that feels like such a relief. Nerds -- welcome! Brains -- welcome! And because speculative fiction is so often about utopias and dreaming a better world, SF fandom can feel like this wonderland where nerds come together to dream a better world, and live into that dream.
But the people coming together are still human beings, living in this world, right now. No matter how many times we tell ourselves that we "feel like aliens, what is it that these strange humans are doing?" still we are human beings. Shaped and formed by the cultures and societies and families we live in.
And whether you are from Europe or North America or Australia (one of my pet peeves is the way the U.S. gets singled out in much of these discussions), you are shaped by a society that privileges whiteness and oppresses people of color.
So we all bring that shaping into the SF fan community. And the extent to which we act as if everything is fine and we're all Good People, the extent to which we fail to deliberately and intentionally work on privilege, constantly bringing it to consciousness and putting into practice all of the things that help (listen when POC talk, don't defend, etc) ... is the extent to which we perpetuate that privilege and oppression in SF fan communities.
Note what he is explicitly stating. He is stating that white people should feel some extra guilt based on their group membership, and that therefore it behooves them to treat people of color with special respect ("listen when POC talk, don't defend") that said POC are not expected to show in return.
This is racism, naked, pure and simple.
I invite others to jump onto this thread. We need some sanity here. And we need the science fiction to step up and shout a resounding "No!" to these race-guilt hucksters, and laugh in the face of their claims until they slink back away to under the stones from which they came.
The last thing science fiction fandom needs is racism, especially racism disquised as "fighting racism."
http://firecat.livejournal.com/598782.html?thread=4673022#t4673022
The heart of this evil is expressed in this comment:
White people coming to consciousness about white privilege means accepting the death of our self-image of white innocence.
This is especially hard for communities like the white SF community, in which white folks seek and create community that feels like such a relief. Nerds -- welcome! Brains -- welcome! And because speculative fiction is so often about utopias and dreaming a better world, SF fandom can feel like this wonderland where nerds come together to dream a better world, and live into that dream.
But the people coming together are still human beings, living in this world, right now. No matter how many times we tell ourselves that we "feel like aliens, what is it that these strange humans are doing?" still we are human beings. Shaped and formed by the cultures and societies and families we live in.
And whether you are from Europe or North America or Australia (one of my pet peeves is the way the U.S. gets singled out in much of these discussions), you are shaped by a society that privileges whiteness and oppresses people of color.
So we all bring that shaping into the SF fan community. And the extent to which we act as if everything is fine and we're all Good People, the extent to which we fail to deliberately and intentionally work on privilege, constantly bringing it to consciousness and putting into practice all of the things that help (listen when POC talk, don't defend, etc) ... is the extent to which we perpetuate that privilege and oppression in SF fan communities.
Note what he is explicitly stating. He is stating that white people should feel some extra guilt based on their group membership, and that therefore it behooves them to treat people of color with special respect ("listen when POC talk, don't defend") that said POC are not expected to show in return.
This is racism, naked, pure and simple.
I invite others to jump onto this thread. We need some sanity here. And we need the science fiction to step up and shout a resounding "No!" to these race-guilt hucksters, and laugh in the face of their claims until they slink back away to under the stones from which they came.
The last thing science fiction fandom needs is racism, especially racism disquised as "fighting racism."